rain bird control valve

Hi everyone,

I'm glad i found this site! Now maybe i can stop beating my head aginst the wall!

I'm having a problem with a rainbird 1 inch control valve. The valve will open but will not shut off. I have opened and cleaned and replced diaphram ,spring and solenoid. We found that the contractor never landed the wire at control box so we were able to tie into another controler wire. Any help would be greatly apppreciated!

Wont shut off

Hi, I have a couple questions for you. You say the valve will open but wont shut off. How exactly do you get the valve to shut off to know that it opens? What I mean is, does the valve run 24 hours a day or are you turning it off somehow manually before opening it with the timer. I'm also wondering if the problem started when you hooked up the wire at the timer. It sounds like maybe you have it connected in the wrong spot. Possibly you're using the master valve terminal. Does the valve shut off when you disconnect the wire?

wont shut off

Well where do i start! The station in question is a drip system for some tree's. We relized that the tree's were dying which led us to the non op controler. After a continuity check we found that their wasent a wire landed for that station. we tied into a lawn station that would run from the controler. things worked for a few test trial's then stayed on. The person in charge of the area used the x shape handle to shut off the flow. I have not tried to remove the wire to see if it shut's down but i will try that in the mornning. I'm not sure i understand what you mean by the master valve. Our system consist of a backflow preventer and then divided among 14 stations. All other valve on the system are manual gate valves.

Dripline

Ok from what you've described disconnecting the wire probably wont do anything. Some of your wording is very confusing to me. ("we found that their wasent a wire landed for that station. we tied into a lawn station that would run from the controler.") I'll take a stab at it anyway. It sounds like you found a spare wire and hooked it up to the controller. The problem is with the valve itself. Either it's not designed for the low flow that the dripline creates or there's something mechanically wrong with the valve. You can try adjusting that X thing you described. That's the flow control. With the valve on turn the flow control down as far as you can and still have the drippers working. This will help the valve shut off when the timer is done with it. If the flow control's open all the way then the valve could easily stick on especially on dripline. You might need a valve designed specifically for low flow. If you can't shut the water off unless the flow control is all the way tight then there's a problem with the valve. Possibly a hole in the diaphragm. Also make sure the solenoid is snug. That could keep a valve from shutting off. I have more but that's a good start.

dripline

Sorry about the wording las night, it was a long day and i was beat. As for landing the wire, the contractor pulled the wire but never attached it to the station controler. We found it later broken 3/4 of the way to the station controler. The low flow is sounding like more of a possibility and i will give it a shot again in the mornning. One last question for you, on the valve body there are two screws with lock nuts , one has a filter under the solenoid , whats the other for? Just currious!

lock nut

I'm not sure what you mean by lock nut. Maybe it's the bleeder screw. If so opening the bleeder screw will release pressure from off the top of the diaphragm and the valve will open. Maybe someone else knows what the lock nut is.

control valve

Well i guess the boss got tired of me asking to have the electrician to come out and pull new wire. It seemed to do the trick. I think seperating the two stations, with the pressure we have made the diffrence. As for the lock nut, It is the bleeder screw but it also has a nut ont the screw used for adjusting and then locking into place.Thank you for all your help!